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19 Dec 2002 : Column 1003—continued
Rural Payments Agency
13. Mr. James Plaskitt (Warwick and Leamington): If she will make a statement on the operation of the Rural Payments Agency. [86778]
The Minister for Rural Affairs (Alun Michael): The annual report of the Rural Payments Agency published in October 2002 presents an unqualified set of accounts and the achievement of 16 out of 18 key performance targets. It is also worth noting that the agency has recently achieved the quickest ever start to the payment of the arable area payment scheme claims in England. Some 86 per cent. of claims were made within two weeks of the start of the payment window, amounting to #681 million paid to farmers.
Mr. Plaskitt : Farmers in Warwickshire are reporting to me that payments are coming through much more
quickly, for which they are grateful. Can we go further and consider greater co-ordination between different databases in the Department, perhaps even merging some of them so that we can facilitate more filing by e-systems and less by paper?
Alun Michael: My hon. Friend is quite right, and a great deal of work is going on towards that end. The support for electronic submission of 2003 IACS—integrated administration and control system—claim forms has been enhanced, and applicants will be able to work offline before submitting their claims. I have no doubt that that will help to improve matters.
Mr. Speaker: Mr. Ian Liddell-Grainger. Not here.
Alun Michael: It is obvious that some people have left for Christmas early this year.
Wessex Water (Low Flows)
17. Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury): Whether the Environment Agency and Wessex Water have signed the detailed operating agreement on restoring low flows in the River Wylye, River Piddle and the upper Bristol Avon. [86782]
The Minister for Rural Affairs (Alun Michael): In June of this year the Environment Agency, English Nature, the Office of Water Services and Wessex Water agreed a programme of measures on restoring low flows in the Rivers Wylye, Piddle and the upper Bristol Avon. Since the programme of measures was agreed, Wessex Water has been operating in accordance with that agreement. I understand that the text of a detailed operating agreement covering this work has been agreed between the Environment Agency and Wessex Water and will be signed shortly.
Mr. Key : So it has not been signed yet. Has the Minister received the report that was promised in the statement of intent to which he has just referred and which was due to be delivered to his Department in December 2002? I invite him to get tough, because this is one of the most precious chalk streams in Europe. It is a candidate special area of conservation, a site of special scientific interest with a wildlife trust area, and only last week there was a discharge of raw sewage into the river. It is one step forward and two steps back. This simply will not do—the agreement must be signed, sealed and delivered.
Alun Michael: As I understand it, following the statement of intent, Wessex Water has been operating in the spirit of the agreement. Of course I will look at the particular incident to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. The agreement is enforceable by the Secretary of State, so it is essential that it be made at an appropriate level of detail. Of course it is important that the document to be signed is precise and correct. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would support that, and my understanding is that it is very close to being completed at that level of detail.
EU Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment Directive
18. Andrew Selous (South-West Bedfordshire): What recent representations she has received regarding the implementation of the EU directive on the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment. [86783]
The Minister for the Environment (Mr. Michael Meacher): The Department has received representations directly from the consumer, electronics and IT industries and the printer cartridge remanufacturing industry. We have also received representations indirectly from numerous stakeholders through meetings with local authorities, dismantlers, retailers, manufacturers and small businesses.
Andrew Selous: I thank the Minister for that reply. Given the current difficulty with the implementation of the fridges directive, what assurance can he give the House that electrical goods will not be littering our towns and countryside in future? Furthermore, what assurance can he give us that any costs incurred by
local authorities will be fully reimbursed by the Government—unlike the current situation as regards the fridges directive?
Mr. Meacher: There is all the difference in the world with what happened as regards fridges, which, as I have repeatedly said, occurred because the Commission told the UK of the requirements under the directive at far too late a stage—after two and a quarter years.
The differences are, first, that there was regulation on fridges, whereas the waste electrical and electronic equipment directive is to be transferred over a much longer period of time, so there is an opportunity for discretion. Secondly, as regards fridges, the UK had only seven months from the time we finally received the information from the Commission, but we have nearly two years to secure implementation of the WEEE directive. Indeed, under that directive, we have already exceeded the draft collection target of 4 kg per head. There is no comparison between the two directives and we shall be ready for the smooth and proper implementation of the waste electrical and electronic equipment directive.
Business of the House
12.30 pm
Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst): Will the Leader of the House please give us the business for next week?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Robin Cook): It will be a pleasure. The business for the first week after the Christmas recess will be as follows:
Tuesday 7 January—Second Reading of the Local Government Bill.
Wednesday 8 January—Opposition Day [1st Allotted Day]. There will be a debate on an Opposition motion; subject to be announced.
Thursday 9 January—Remaining stages of the Health (Wales) Bill.
Friday 10 January—The House will not be sitting.
The provisional business for the following week will be:
Monday 13 January—Opposition Day [2nd Allotted Day]. There will be a debate on an Opposition motion; subject to be announced.
Tuesday 14 January—Until 4 o'clock there will be an Opposition half day. There will be a debate on a motion in the name of the Ulster Unionist party, followed by a debate on the London bid for the 2012 Olympic games on a motion for the Adjournment of the House.
Wednesday 15 January—Remaining stages of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Bill.
Thursday 16 January—Motions on the General Synod measure, followed by a motion to take note of various European documents relating to fisheries policy.
Friday 17 January—The House will not be sitting.
Hon. Members will wish to be reminded that although the new hours start in January, on the first day back after the recess the House will meet at 2.30 pm. The reduced period of notice for oral questions and the opportunity to table electronic questions will commence from the start of the new year.
Following another recommendation in the Modernisation Committee report, the Chairman of Ways and Means has agreed that there will be a cross-cutting question session on youth policy in Westminster Hall for one hour on Thursday 23 January. Questions should be tabled by Wednesday 15 January at 12.30 pm. That will be followed by a two hour debate on XPathways into Work: helping people into employment".
Mr. Forth: Earlier this week, the Leader of the House asked me—rather plaintively—whether I could bear to be pleasant today. As a result, I took a crash course in emollience and seasonal good will. I want, therefore, to offer my wishes for a happy Yuletide and a very happy and prosperous new year to the Leader of the House and, if I may say so through him, to his mother; to you, Mr. Speaker, to your Deputies and to all right hon. and hon. Members; to both the retiring Clerk and the incoming Clerk and all their staff; to the Officers of the House and the employees—and to the world generally. The pleasant bit is now over.
The Leader of the House has told us that on 16 January there will be debates both on the General Synod and on European documents on fisheries. The fisheries issue is important to many Members of the House and their constituents, so will the right hon. Gentleman give us some idea of the time that he proposes to allocate for the two debates? Given that by that time we shall be finishing early on Thursdays, I hope that fish will not be squeezed by the Church—if I may put it in that way—because it is surely important that the House give the maximum time to the very important issue of fishing policy, and that it is not in any way seen to be neglected.
During yesterday's statement on Iraq, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth) said:
- Xthe media were briefed yesterday and the House of Commons was briefed today. We are clearly the poor relations."
- Xthere was nothing in the briefing to journalists yesterday that had not previously been set out clearly to the House of Commons on two, if not three, occasions."—[Official Report, 18 December 2002; Vol.396, c. 846–47.]
- Xchartering the ships needed to take British tanks to the Gulf."
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